Dismantling the Infrastructure of Tyranny,
by Arthur Topham
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered"
Thomas Paine, The Crisis Papers, 1776
On March 19, 2003, only hours before the arrival of Spring Equinox,
the USA and its motley crew of sword-rattling sycophants commenced
bombing the independent, sovereign nation of Iraq. It was, and
continues to be, an overt, shameless act of premeditated hostility.
It was also a decisive moment; not only for the USA, but for this
writer. It was then and there that I decided I'd finally had enough.
And so without further adieu I sat down at my keyboard and typed up a
Declaration of War aimed at the instigating aggressor nation - the
United States of America. I did so, not as a Canadian subject, but as
a free and sovereign citizen of the planet Earth. What follows is my
rationale for making such a radical and provocative decision.

Call it a temporary loss of insanity or possibly a state of
momentary, yet justified, rage. Call it whatever but the time had
arrived, after close to forty years of peaceful protesting, where I
was finally forced to face my deepest fear of all - the recognition
and realization that peaceful means alone, in the face of iron-heeled
belligerence and bellicose aggression - was now no longer the
appropriate response to the USA's new rules of engagement.

I knew of course it was coming. It was just a matter of time. A
foregone conclusion so to speak. The clarity of the US's intent had
been indelibly outlined in graphic detail throughout the tumultuous
sixties. The Vietnam war had exposed to the eyes and nose of the
global public not only the dirty dealings of the US military but also
the stench of collusion and cover-up that rose high above the White
House and the office of the Presidency. In fact all that's taken
place since then has been but an embellishment of the original US
plan for world hegemony. So now, when the American-led forces of
imperialism made their Mephistophelian choice and struck Iraq
preemptively rather than adhere to international law, I knew our
world, at that precise moment, was historically and psychically
altered forever.

Illusions tend to stick to us, as Lenny Bruce once said, like "snot
to a suede jacket". And they're not easily removed. And in this case
the illusion that the US administration would somehow come to its
senses rather than use its might to try and legitimize something
obviously not morally or legally supportable was the one I had
stubbornly clung to. So when President George W. Bush set this
historic act of supreme aggression in motion it was as if the last
veil suddenly had fallen from my eyes, leaving me, for a brief
moment, awe struck at the realization that my deepest and most sacred
principles regarding human co-existence were now shattered!

I sat before my computer numbed, yet reflective, like some
Nietzschean Zarathustra who, when he heard the old saint in the woods
say to him, "With singing, weeping, laughing, and muttering I praise
the God who is my God." remarked to himself, "Could it be possible!
This old saint has not yet heard in his forest that God is dead!"

And now?
Whenever an individual or a group or a nation-state resolves to use
sheer brute force as their ultimate means of negotiation those about
to die or to be victimized in other ways must recognize this
impending reality and act directly and decisively to defend
themselves.

The realization was profound. What it meant was that the world was no
longer held together by a common consensus. Like Nietzsche's god,
international law was suddenly dead - a victim of the collateral
damage sustained by the USA's insatiable and tyrannical quest for
global domination. With a mere click, Might Mouse George had deleted
it from the text of humankind's file for world peace and security
and, like some strange zen awakening, I was left contemplating the
reality of Evil, appearing in a most hideous and threatening aspect
as the once-renowned US of A - the home of individual freedom and
liberty - and manifesting before my mind's eye as the pre-eminent and
deadly visage of Darth Vader and the Evil Empire.

I saw it as the final wake up call for the natural-born, sovereign
citizens of this beleaguered planet. A bright, blood-red signal to
stop dreaming that we could somehow, by a showing of good will,
trust, patience, dialogue, love and compassion, end the acrimony and
the atrocities being perpetrated by this once proud and noble nation;
one now held firmly by the hawk's claws of a righteous, sociopathic
tyrant.

As an avid peace activist and radical thinker since the mid-sixties I
had continuously quested for universal sister and brotherhood, trying
every conceivable trick in the book to advance the concepts of peace,
human rights and social/economic justice. Now, witnessing what the US
had initiated, I felt molested and pained, as deeply as I imagine
rape must affect a woman. It was as if my most sacred, precious heart-
center had been violated and abused to the point where the foundation
of my whole belief structure, my Being itself, now teetered on the
brink of collapse like the Twin Towers of 9/11. It was at this point
that I knew, with a finality beyond question, that the people of this
planet were openly under attack by a vicious and diabolical presence.

Too many factors, too many parameters, and too many strategies have
been debated and tried repeatedly in humanity's relentless pursuit of
the elusive Grail of justice to even begin assessing their specific
degree of applicability and appropriateness in this short article.
This is neither the place nor the intent. Instead, it must suffice to
say that they are all, in some way correct, and shall remain so, even
after the radical proposition that I wish to introduce into this
general discussion of war and peace. But at the same time that we are
reassessing our achievements in the context of the old paradigm of
universal consensus we must also begin giving serious consideration
to the new world disorder in which we suddenly find ourselves - a
world cruising rather swiftly toward an ominous abyss, filled with
chaos and madness wherein Might is seen as Right and Love and Peace
are viewed as a contemptible form of Weakness.

There is though one element of prime importance in this proposed re-
tooling of our basic values and goals that must be profiled
beforehand and it's the mainstream media and more specifically the
north American variety. There has always been a persistent reluctance
on the part of the Peace Movement in general to acknowledge that an
ongoing, covert program of anti-social, debilitating propaganda has
been operative throughout the world since at least the turn of the
20th Century when the initial media conglomerates were created. It's
my contention, based on four decades of observation and research,
that this omnipresent agenda for social, institutional and spiritual
persuasion of the bulk of humanity was designed to circumvent
appropriate responses to national and international crises and that
it has been the overall determining factor in why we've held back on
the final push toward achieving our collectively agreed-upon goals
for world peace.

Call it a conspiracy if you will for that is precisely what it is. In
trying to ignore this program of mass mind-control, especially the
portion of it which has been systematically occurring since the
creation of the US's National Security Association and the Central
Intelligence Agency back in 1947, we have foolishly overlooked the
most critical and sinister component of our captor's power over us
and our potential actions. The Mainstream Mind-control Media (M3), as
I refer to it, IS the Orwellian Big Brother controlling, dispensing
and influencing our perceptions of what constitute social, political
and spiritual realities and IS therefore a stupendously potent
psychic force intentionally being used to inculcate the general
public with specific, intentional propaganda designed to create and
reinforce a particular mindset which continues to be the main
stumbling block to the movement's understanding of the extent and
intent of the US government's policies, both domestic and foreign.
Because of the M3's purposeful withholding of the required nutrients
of vital information from our minds it now becomes extremely
imperative that this mind-controlling entity be dissolved in as quick
and pragmatic a manner as possible.

Mental prisons
All that we have accomplished en masse as a Peace Movement over the
past forty years has only led us, step by step, victim by victim,
martyr by martyr, up to the front of the oaken doors of Freedom. We
are still within the prison walls. What I wish to offer to those who
are standing before that portal to peace, desperately awaiting a
final closure to the killing, suffering and injustice in the world,
is the proposition that in order for the peace-loving people of the
world to step across the final threshold to lasting liberty,
happiness, and justice we must first perform the radical and
necessary act of dismantling what I refer to as the infrastructure of
tyranny.*

At the end of the day, and after half a century of struggles, what
this implies is that we must metaphorically, and literally, bust down
the doors of this exoterically-induced psychic prison which has kept
us stifled and confined inside our heads and hearts and shackled us
with the seemingly omniscient belief that good will, and good will
alone, could and would eventually liberate us all from the horror and
suffering of needless and endless war. This belief, inculcated over
generations by tyrants, monarchs, organized religions, centralized
state governments (both capitalist and communist) and now
transnational corporations, has finally reached its apex in our time
and proven to be incapable of halting the juggernaut of uncontrolled
aggression. Instead of resolving the endless dilemma of increased and
ongoing violence, rogue states such as the USA, Great Britain, Spain
and Australia are now acting unilaterally, while at the same time
broadcasting via the M3, their sinister siren songs of insanity to
those nations still holding on to the old paradigm of peace,
relentlessly and desperately attempting to recruit more countries to
join them in their collective madness. As a result, what we're now
witnessing in Iraq will soon be spreading throughout the world body
politic, like some alien form of rampant cancer, bringing with it
increased death and chaos.

That infrastructure which, in all its implied enormity and influence,
allows, supports, promotes and perpetuates the present reign of
terror emanating from the USA and its aggressor allies, MUST be
dismantled from the absolute bottom to the acme of its power
structure. In order to accomplish that objective it will require an
intensity of direct action and civil disobedience far beyond all we
have witnessed in the past. What this means for people everywhere is
that, coupled with courage, trust and an inestimable sacrifice of
self, must come the recognition that we're now swiftly moving into a
place we've been conditioned to fear and loath for lifetimes - GLOBAL
REVOLUTION!

Forms of transformation
The forms this final battle will take are impossible to describe.
They will be as varied and as spontaneous as the individuals and
groups who perform them but it should be understood that in a major
sense they will be anarchistic or leaderless in design and strategy
in order to forbid the encircling and assault that will occur once
the process assumes massive proportions. The Creature will not
willingly lay down its arms. That we can rest assured of. The
struggles now occurring in the streets of America and in cities
around the world are indicative of the varied, imaginative and
creative ways that individuals and groups can act in order to bring
this dismantling process about. As the chanting among the movement's
partisans declares, "There ain't no power like the power of the
people 'cause the power of the people don't stop!" And it won't! once
we've made the quantum leap to understanding and realizing that our
personal responsibility demands that we participate and act to ensure
this final outcome. It can't stop unless we choose instead to succumb
and submit to the Evil which now fully penetrates that
political/ideological hydra we euphemistically recognize as the New
World Order.

As the singer/songwriter John Prine once said, and to which I liken
the USA's actions, they've "crossed the evil line today" leaving the
world a much sadder, forlorn, fearful and destitute environment in
which to try to live a life secure in happiness, peace and harmony.
Today's US government is now controlled by a diabolic cabal of
murderers, perverts and religions fanatics with George W. Bush as the
mythical Beast of the Apocalypse. Through deceit and malice, and
aided and abetted by the M3, he's now wrapped his nation in sheep's
clothing adorned and studded with stars and stripes and has set upon
a course of action that can only lead to a hell on Earth for everyone.

Such is the scenario which has now brought us to the point where, as
a Peace Movement in these final hours, we must confront that dark
night of our collective soul we previously backed away from and hoped
we'd never have to face. The choice is now clear. The longer we hold
back the more our rightful, personal power will be sucked from us and
used by this armaggedon-bound bully to enhance his position and power
and inflict further pain and suffering upon generations to come. Yet,
for those with the courage and tenacity to pass through this ring of
fire and emerge on the other side unscathed and reaffirmed in the
deep conviction that this cruel and inhumane infrastructure can be
dismantled and transformed it can, and will, be the glorious
beginning of a new dawn for humankind, one that will shine on crazily
forever! We can make it happen. We must! And we shall!

Violence
And so ultimately my initial outburst of justified rage over this
indefensible war against the people of Iraq was, in a very real
sense, my personal passage to the realization and acceptance that
more radical means are necessary if we are to stop this global
touring terror-show now being billed as the inevitable and essential
precursor to the final security and protection of the human family.
That said, there leaves the question of violence itself to be
addressed.

With respect to that oft-cited topic I will state in the most
unequivocal manner possible that I am not proposing the movement
begin employing the same tactics as its repulsive and misguided
opponent and suddenly begin violently opposing those currently
responsible for the bloodshed and mayhem in Iraq and elsewhere. Such
a case scenario I would acknowledge as only one possible course of
action, if and when all other imaginative modes of monkey-wrenching
have failed to accomplish the objective thus sought. It must be
remembered that as there are many ways to skin a cat there are also
many ways to prune a bush. What I am cautioning though and now have
accepted as inevitable, is that such actions may arise should all
other attempts at facilitating this transformation fail.

I am not making a judgment one way or the other on the use or non-use
of violence. I admit that there is a moral demarcation line here that
has in some ways hamstrung the peace movement since its inception and
it's one that I would suggest the forces of Evil have consistently
used to their advantage. From cheek to cheek down through recorded
history we've been martyred and murdered and mind-controlled and
enslaved and I am asserting that such a position is no longer valid,
tenable or acceptable in the situation that we are now in. As the
great writer Arthur Koestler remarked in his book, Janus: A Summing
Up:

"From the dawn of consciousness until 6 August 1945, man had to live
with the prospect of his death as an individual; since the day when
the first atomic bomb outshone the sun over Hiroshima, mankind as a
whole had to live with the prospect of its extinction as a species.
We have been taught to accept the transitoriness of personal
existence, while taking the potential immorality of the human race
for granted. This belief has ceased to be valid. We have to revise
our axioms.
It is not an easy task. There are periods of incubation before a new
idea takes hold of the mind; the Copernican doctrine which so
radically downgraded man's status in the universe took nearly a
century until it penetrated European consciousness. The new
downgrading of our species to the status of mortality is even more
difficult to digest."
That, I would suggest is the haunting position we now find ourselves
in. With a nuclear holocaust a stark and grim possibility if this
illegal war is not curtailed soon will we be able to find the time to
assimilate such a dreadful revelation?

I would also add here for clarification that, for the benefit of
those who still struggle with the concept of violence, I consider the
destruction of physical objects, be they vacant buildings, bridges,
banks or bombs, not something to associate with the term violent. To
me violence is an act perpetrated upon other sentient life-forms not
man-made objects.

Symbolically therefore, my act of declaring war upon the government
of the United States of America was the final voicing of my pent-up
rage and the notice given that I WILL RESIST the tyranny planned by
Bush and the New World Order. For that reason and that reason alone I
feel clear in saying it was both necessary and justified. Like some
primal scream from the depths of my Being it confirmed, once and for
all, that the spiritual warrior within me will NEVER succumb to any
fascist, totalitarian agenda emanating from the US government or any
other centralized State apparatus.

With a little help from our friends
The next step for the resistance movement is to present to the world
a blueprint of the nuts, bolts, beams, girders and facades that
comprise this infrastructure of tyranny. One that will give each and
every one of us a clear picture of who and what it is that supports
this massive, psychotic edifice of Evil currently plaguing the peace
of the planet. Given the road map and the actual locations of the
facilities and the players who perpetuate this scheme for ecological
and genocidal disaster it will then be the personal responsibility of
the partisans of peace to decide on their own strategies and courses
of action.

This superstructure of death and destruction must be dismantled piece
by piece rather than crumble like the detonated Twin Towers of the
World Trade Center. Then, it can be replaced by a new, decentralized
global Sanctuary constructed from the recycled remains. Out of that
transformative process will come a new home for the human family, one
built from the organic constituents of Love, Peace, Justice and
Universal Harmony where all of us who truly value the things of the
spirit and the flesh can live in safety and freedom.

Finally I would say, please remember that each of us can and must
attempt to perform some task which will help to bring that reality to
fruition. Recall the immortal words of John Lennon who once said that
we CAN get by with a little help from our friends. Let us not falter.
Let us not fail. Let us just begin and DO IT! Namaste!

* It should be noted here and with all previous and subsequent
suggestions as to courses of action that the details of such
strategies and the descriptions of the multi and varied components of
such a superstructure remain beyond the scope of this particular
article.

Arthur Topham is a writer, father and grampa living with his lovely
wife Shasta in the wilds of central B.C. He is also the founding
publisher and editor of the Radical Press and The Radical, an
alternative newspaper once published in British Columbia, Canada and
now suspended in a devachanic state awaiting rebirth. Arthur spends
much of his time in cyberspace monitoring the movements of the Beast
and keeping his radical readers informed on his websitehttp://www.radicalpress.com He
appreciates hearing from readers and
can be emailed at
arthur@radicalpress.com